What is a Point Cloud?

3D Machine Vision captures the location and shape of an object in a format suitable for processing by a computer or a PAC/PLC. An object’s surface is represented by a list of three dimensional coordinates (X,Y,Z) which is referred to as a “Point Cloud”.

Shown is a point cloud of an orange. Individual scans (or profiles) can be seen as lines of points. Combining the profiles in the Z axis renders a 3D representation of the shape of the orange. Point Cloud data, from multiple scanners, can be “stitched” together to see all around an object or when scanning larger objects. Stitching point cloud data is sometimes referred to as coordinate remapping.